MOOC-based micro-credentials for teacher professional development

CRED4TEACH

Flexible and needs-based professional development opportunities for teachers are a relevant success factor for ensuring high-quality teaching in various education sectors. The countries of Albania, Montenegro and Ukraine in particular are currently facing a common challenge to modernize in-service training opportunities for teachers and thus bring their national higher education systems into line with EU strategies.

Goals and contents

This is where the CRED4TEACH project comes in, with the aim of developing and sustainably establishing innovative training formats for teachers from Ukraine, Albania and Montenegro. Three important aspects are to be taken into account:

innovative content with a focus on learning strategies to promote 21st century skills such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving in learners,
time- and location-independent provision that does not require attendance,
flexible and small-scale learning formats - so-called micro-credentials, which allow the targeted acquisition of desired skills and can be recognized.

Therefore, in the course of the CRED4TEACH project, together with partners from DE, PT, EE, TR, UA, ALB, MNE, eleven micro-credentials using MOOC-based pedagogical approaches that enable active online self-study will be developed and also tested with teachers from the partner countries. Selected teachers at the participating universities in Albania, Montenegro and Ukraine will also be trained as MOOC and micro-credentials designers by European partners. This will enable the partner universities to develop and provide further MOOC-based micro-credentials even after the end of the project.

In order to promote the recognition and further adaptation of CRED4TEACH good practices, the project will summarize recommendations for national decision-makers in education for the inclusion of micro-credentials in the respective national educational practice and define framework conditions for this.